myself that I had escaped the fever, or seasoning, to which
Europeans, on their first arrival in hot climates, are generally
subject. But on the 31st of July I imprudently exposed myself to
the night-dew in observing an eclipse of the moon, with a view to
determine the longitude of the place; the next day I found myself
attacked with a smart fever and delirium, and such an illness
followed as confined me to the house during the greatest part of
August. My recovery was very slow, but I embraced every short
interval of convalescence to walk out, and make myself acquainted
with the productions of the country.

In one of those excursions, having rambled farther than usual, on a
hot day, I brought on a return of my fever, and on the 10th of
September I was again confined to my bed. The fever, however, was
not so violent as before; and in the course of three weeks I was
able, when the weather would permit, to renew my botanical
excursions; and when it rained, I amused myself with drawing plants,
&c., in my chamber. The care and attention of Dr. Laidley
contributed greatly to alleviate my sufferings; his company and
conversation beguiled the tedious hours during that gloomy season,
when the rain falls in torrents; when suffocating heats oppress by
day, and when the night is spent by the terrified travellers in
listening to the croaking of frogs (of which the numbers are beyond
imagination), the shrill cry of the jackal, and the deep howling of
the hyaena, a dismal concert, interrupted only by the roar of such
tremendous thunder as no person can form a conception of but those
who have heard it.

The country itself being an immense level, and very generally
covered with wood, presents a tiresome and gloomy uniformity to the